Need a good charger =)

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llmercll

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
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Hello, I'm new to recharagable batteries but after urning through so many alkaline batteries I've decided it's time.

I've done a bit of reading on the subject and from what I understand threres a somewhat new technology out that allows for use in low drain appliances such as controllers and such. I heard good things about sanyo eneloops and was planning on buying some of them. Of course if anyone can recommend a better battery for any reason (for controllers, flashlights, games, etc) please do so, as I know nothing.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00198BF9W/?tag=cpf0b6-20

SO I checked out the standard charger that came with the eneloop and read that it's not so great. They only charge in pairs, dont have a display (I'd really like one to know how much power each battery has and so I can monitor the drain rate over time)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00077AA5Q/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Then I found this which looked perfect. Not overly expensive, can single charge, can change to slow or fast charge (I would always use slow, its better for the battery right?), and has an led display to show the juice. Not sure if the batteries that came with it were the new technology low discharge ones, but that charger seemed like the best buy (it can charge eneloops i assume)

ANYWAY, I read here that this model is known to melt...and well, that's no good.

You guys all seem to know what you're talking about, can you recommend me a great charger that will work with he new technology eneloop batteries? (I hope im correct that eneloops are the best right now). I seem to see people recommend a maha charger, again I'm clueless.

thanks!
 
Hello Llmercll,

Welcome to CPF.

The Eneloop cells are a good choice, and many of us prefer the Maha C-9000 for a charger.

Tom
 
Thank you silver, so the eneloop are definitely a go.

The maha c-9000 looks great (only thing I don't like Is that it only shows 1 battery at a time, not a problem really) but its EXPENSIVE. At least from the store I'm looking at. 60$ without any batteries while the one that melts was only 40$ with 10 batteries included.

Can you recommend a good place to buy it? maybe for a little cheaper?

thanks!
 
Also, I think perhaps that the standard MQN06 charger that comes with eneloops, while it is not the best charger you could buy, is certainly not the worst. If it comes free with a bundle I would have no hesitation in using it while deciding about when and if to buy the C-9000... :)
 
Hello Llmercll,

The way I look at it, the $20 difference will be made up in around 80 - 100 "worry free" charges over using alkaline cells... :)

Tom
 
llmercll said:
Thank you silver, so the eneloop are definitely a go.

The maha c-9000 looks great (only thing I don't like Is that it only shows 1 battery at a time, not a problem really) but its EXPENSIVE. At least from the store I'm looking at. 60$ without any batteries while the one that melts was only 40$ with 10 batteries included.

Can you recommend a good place to buy it? maybe for a little cheaper?

thanks!
Click to expand...

The display on the C-9000 rotates to show the status of each of the four positions (or those in use). It is more expensive than some competitors, but it works like a champ for me.

Try Thomas Distributing. They are a highly recommended source. $50 plus shipping there, and they stand behind it.
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/s...html?SP_id=&osCsid=6dgp3m9tsvht77bonp78maub94
 
Spent most of today reading up on chargers etc. These are my conclusions.

The Maha MH-C9000 is not a "good" charger, it's an "enthusiasts" charger. It's aimed at geeks that know what all the figures it displays mean, and want to get the absolute most they can from their batteries. If you don't want to know about charging rates, discharging rates, deep cycling, cell recovery, and all these other complicated things, it's probably not the best charger for you. If you do want to learn about such things, then it's about as good as you can get. You can of course just use it as a standard charger, but if that's all you're going to do then it may be wasted money that could have bought something more useful - like additional cells.

The charger that comes with the Eneloops is very good. It has no fancy features, it just charges the batteries. For some people, that's all you want.

The cheap "supermarket" chargers seem to be pretty bad. The cells they come with are usually better than the charger, and some just charge continually all the time they're plugged in so will overcharge the cells.
 
Last edited:
llmercll I was in your same situation a few months ago and after reading cpf for a while came up with this. Bought maha c801D and was good only for like 2 weeks before I got the bug, the info bug. So I bought the c-9000. I essentially wanted to know capacity and have all the goodies with the c-9000, break in and refresh and analyze. So the combo works well for me b/c I did grow into it. As for batteries, eneloops are great but don't look over maha Immedions or the powerex 2700's.
 
Magic Matt said:
Spent most of today reading up on chargers etc. These are my conclusions.

The Maha MH-C9000 is not a "good" charger, it's an "enthusiasts" charger. It's aimed at geeks that know what all the figures it displays mean, and want to get the absolute most they can from their batteries. If you don't want to know about charging rates, discharging rates, deep cycling, cell recovery, and all these other complicated things, it's probably not the best charger for you. If you do want to learn about such things, then it's about as good as you can get. You can of course just use it as a standard charger, but if that's all you're going to do then it may be wasted money that could have bought something more useful - like additional cells.

The charger that comes with the Eneloops is very good. It has no fancy features, it just charges the batteries. For some people, that's all you want.

The cheap "supermarket" chargers seem to be pretty bad. The cells they come with are usually better than the charger, and some just charge continually all the time they're plugged in so will overcharge the cells.
Click to expand...

I, partly, disagree. I dont think knowing the real capacity of a cell is a geek thing, just a basic one if you want to use multicell devices.

A year ago I didnt care a lot about battery things. Then I bought the C9000 because I didnt have any decen charger and saw the light. Most of my rechargeables were just pure crap and the reason of poor device performance. Got some eneloops, paired them and got 5x runtime in my old digital camera (by example).
 
Glad your doing your reading on the C9000, it is a great charger to use, unlike the other that melts down. Hope your homeowners insurance is paid up if you plan to go with the other. When buying new cells you can do a discharge and break in and later on an R/A to group the cells together. You can maximize runtime and longevity of the cells.
 
I'm sirry, but reading through the various threads about chargers, comments about chargers melting just because they're not a C9000 were not very helpful. The chances of an NiCd or NiMH charger melting are extremely small.

Even when I tried to make an old Uniross charger melt, all I succeeded in doing was tripping the fuses.
 
Hello Magic Matt,

You may want to read the information again...

The comments are not about chargers melting because they are not a C-9000 charger.

The comments are about the La Crosse BC-9009 charger melting.

I am not sure how many people on CPF are using the BC-9009, but there are at least 11 reports of that particular charger melting.

While that may be a small amount, I don't consider it an extremely small amount. I happen to think that all chargers should perform as well as your old Uniross charger did as far as melting during use goes.

Tom
 
Well said.....the members of cpf want something that performs.....not melt on you while charging. There not doing anything wrong or inproper when it comes to charging its just that the charger has a bad habit of melting on the user.
 
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SilverFox said:
I am not sure how many people on CPF are using the BC-9009, but there are at least 11 reports of that particular charger melting.
Click to expand...

Ok, my mistake... I've just been having a lotof comments from various sources (most away from this forum) telling me that anything that isn't a C9000 will melt/burn my house down/turn my cells into time bombs/eat my pets etc.

Anyone in the UK having that problem should report problems with their charger here if it is unsafe - http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
If there are multiple provable problems with the design of a charger, then it should not legally be on sale, and would require a product recall from the manufacturer. If people don't report it in the right way, then the fault may well go unchallenged.

I'd hope there's similar in the US and other countries.
 
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